The kids are alright. Or at least so concludes the Melbourne University study — the largest study ever conducted on the subject — on the well-being of the children of same sex couples. As much as homophobes want to convince you otherwise, kids with same sex parents are actually more likely to be well adjusted than kids with straight parents.

The Australian Study of Child Health in Same-Sex Families used data collected from over 500 children and 315 gay, lesbian and bisexual parents to monitor key health indicators.

Researchers found that that when it came to issues like self-esteem, emotional behavior and the amount of quality time spent with parents, there was no difference at all between the children of gay parents and the children of straight parents. Furthermore, kids with two moms or two dads actually scored higher than the national average when it came to overall health and how strong of a relationship they had with their parents.

''Because of the situation that same-sex families find themselves in, they are generally more willing to communicate and approach the issues that any child may face at school, like teasing or bullying,'' said lead researcher Dr Simon Crouch, as reported by The Age. ''This fosters openness and means children tend to be more resilient. That would be our hypothesis.''

The conclusion of the study is sort of a "no duh" for those of us who are close to or a part of families that include same sex parents, but that doesn't make the results any less satisfying, especially when you consider that gay marriage opponents have been using the "Won't someone please think of the children?" argument for years.